The truth of the world
by Mongerer of Spoons
Summary: After the events of persona 3, Katou Reiho, a new student to Gekkoukan high, must gather a team of persona users to defeat the remaining nine embodiments of arcana to stop the dark hour from going out of control!  full of OCs
1. Encounter with the unknown

(_31__st__ of January, 2010_)

A stage surrounded by a void of darkness, darker then the human mind can comfortably imagine. A teenager was staring into the sea of never ending darkness. The full name of this boy is Katou Reiho, but names and appearance are irrelevant in this world.

You may be thinking right now that this is just his dream, but I can assure you that this place is not just a figment of his imagination, as he has not been the first person to come across such a place. However, I will not reveal the identity of such people, to ensure that they do not get attention of the wrong kind.

Although you now know that this place is not a dream, Katou does not. Like any other person would do, when he woke in the middle of the night, he assumed that such a place only exists in his dreams. Unlike every other night that he had experienced in this life, the sky was green. Not just a tingle, but bright electric green. _The kind of green that people associate with poison_, he thought grimly. He looked through the window, and gasped. What look like a makeshift tower had decided to appear in the direction of the high school he was due to attend to in the following months, Gekkoukan. By makeshift, I mean that it looked like a giant had stuck parts of various buildings together to make this abomination of a tower. He fortunately lived just across the channel from the high school, making the high school an obvious first choice. He could hear strange chants in the background, he could make out various words, like "nyx" and "awakening". He then recalled the various recruitment posters for the cult that had been escalating recently, all with the word "NYX".

Although Katou had ignored these, his friend Okumura had become more and more infatuated with the beliefs, until the point where he would care about the cult more than his education. He was the type of person hardly talks but is interested in conspiracies and the occult. He had jet black hair with unusually thick glasses, kind of the type you would see in manga.

Today, January the 31st, was the "day of salvation" according to the various attempts where Okumura had tried to persuade Katou to join NYX, which repeatedly failed until he finally gave up. They had even fallen out with each other regarding the topic, as he was adamant in saying that "it isn't a cult, but a religion. Only those who join shall be saved on the day of salvation". He however chose to say this speech in a classroom, and was promptly laughed at by the whole class. Although he hoped that his friend was wise enough to not take part, Katou knew in his heart that Okumura would not even hesitate to agree to such a thing.

A thought struck him. _Was it still the 31__st__?_ He glanced at the clock in his room. According to the clock, it was exactly midnight, on the second. It took him a while to realise that the second hand did not was not moving. _What a coincidence,_ he mused, _to stop working at exactly midnight!_ While he was wondering what the chances were for such a phenomenon to happen, screams rose from the streets. Darting to the window, he saw the followers that were only minutes ago chanting. Now they seemed to be fleeing from some unknown terror that currently occupied the alleyway a few doors down. However, it seemed that whoever made them run away was not following. At that moment, he noticed how big the moon was that night. He was surprised that he hadn't noticed it sooner, it was enormous; it almost looked like it was getting closer to the earth. _Closer?_ He then realised, it was, at an alarming rate, as if something was pushing the moon into earth.

That was when he heard the eardrum-bursting scream that would forever haunt his memories. What seemed to be a feminine figure burst out of the alleyway, and to his horror, he could see why it hadn't chased after the members of NYX. It had already caught one of them. There was blood dribbling from its mouth, which had shined in the light of the ever-approaching moon. It was still holding what must have been an organ of its prey, but it was covered in so much blood it was indistinguishable, not that Katou wanted to know what the monster liked to savour. He threw himself into his bed, willing himself to wake up, trying to muffle the screams of fear with his pillow, reassuring himself that it was nightmare. Anything to purge his memory of the recent events.

**AUTHORS NOTE:**

**Greetings! This is my first fanfic so even the smallest amount of nitpicking is encouraged!**

**I wrote this to improve my English for my upcoming exams, and I have always wanted to write a story about the persona games. chapter two is already finished, but I'm just making sure its immaculate grammar/spelling wise.**

**On a side note, be warned that in this story anything regarding exposure OC's will take priority over actual characters, so I can create scenes MUCH more easily.**

**Please leave constructive criticism and/or suggestions in reviews, I will read 'em all :D**

**also about suggestions, I desperately need to think up new character names, the current two took AGES to find using various methods ****ಠ****_****ಠ****.**


	2. Aftermath of the day of salvation

The next morning Katou woke up in a cold sweat. Which is to be expected, if you consider that was the worst nightmare he ever had. Recalling the nights events, he thought about what he had seen, the demon, the huge tower on Tatsumi port island and, last but not least, the weird stage surrounded by darkness. He ran over to the clock on the other side of his room. _Well that proves it,_ he thought to himself. It was still working. That dream seemed so real, yet so impossible. _Only an idiot would believe that would really happen._ Nevertheless, he could not resist glancing out the window to see if the massive tower was still there.

He had just finished rooting around his room for a new pair of socks when he heard the doorbell ring. Looking out of the window, he saw the last person he had expected to come knocking, Okumura. While in the past they had both walked to school together, after the incident in class that has previously been mentioned they stopped this arrangement, and in consequence they both made their own ways to school. Katou had not expected to be on friendly terms with him ever again. Not that he didn't want to be friends, they had been since childhood, but this incident had left his voice seeming inaudible to Okumuras's ears. But there he was, smiling from below. Five minutes later, Katou was ready. The moment he stepped out the door, his friend was armed with an apology. "Sorry for acting like a bitch last week, It's like I haven't been myself recently."

"Oh, don't worry about it, not like we had a fight or anything like that"

"I've completely forgotten what it was about"

"Seriously?"

"Well it couldn't have been anything important"

Katou was shocked. He would gauge spending the evening in a cult meeting instead of doing revision for the last of the tests as pretty important, as this would determine whether a high school would accept you.

"You don't remember? It was because I laughed at you when you gave an epic speech about NYX in the middle of class"

"NYX? What the hell is that?"

"Um… the cult that you spent basically all your free time with?"

"Is that supposed to be a Joke? Even if I had joined a cult like that I would not fall out with you for something as simple as that"

"You certainly did, and I was not the only one laughing, the whole class was"

"Your obviously lying, I bet that cult does not even exist" the tone in his voice sounded truthful.

_Something was terribly wrong, either he is lying because the "day of salvation" didn't come or he has really lost all his memories surrounding NYX,_ katou thought. Not wanting to break the friendship that had been so suddenly rebuilt, he changed the subject.

"If we don't start moving now we will be late y'know"

"You started this!"

When he walked out into the street, he noticed something that made his stomach turn. There was police tape around the alley where the monster had emerged, police telling the public to walk on the other side of the road. There was even a tent covering up the entrance to the alley to hide the corpse. He hadn't noticed it during his conversation with Okumora due to the hedge on the left side of the front garden. Noting his reaction, his bespectacled friend interrogated him.

"Did you see what happened?"

_Seeing as he didn't believe that he was a member of NYX, I doubt that he would believe me spouting crap about a monster bursting out of the alleyway, fresh blood dribbling from its mouth._

"No, this is the first I've known about it"

_This does not make any sense_.

_If the monster is real what happened to that tower? And how did my clock magically manage to start working again? AND HOW THE HELL HAS OKUMURA FORGOTTEN EVERYTHING ABOUT NYX?_

"Is something the matter?"

Katou realised that he was staring in the direction of where the tower had been.

"You can't wait to go to Gekkoukan, huh?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Not necessarily" he followed this with his trademark lopsided smile, something which Katou hadn't seen in ages.

"You're applying too, right?"

"Of course, as long as I get the right grades, I don't remember revising at all for the tests"

Now would be a good time to comment on Katou's character. He had dark brown hair with matching eyes and a straight face. Unfortunately most people in his middle school were they types of people you find skulking down alleyways. The surrounding area only had one state school with an abysmally low pass rate and crime in the area was rife. A particular incident which involved him sticking up for a classmate led to some "special attention" from the more thuggish members of his year, but that did not stop him from studying for the final entrance tests. In contrast to his current school, Gekkoukan has one of the best pass rates of the region, with people coming from miles away just to attend. They had even set up state-of-the-art dorms a year or two ago to encourage students from far and wide to apply.

NYX had apparently vanished off of the face of the earth, and was never heard about again in the news. They did report however the deaths of over hundred people in a single night over the Iwatodai and Tatsumi port area, attributing it to "apathy syndrome". Which also seems to have stopped since that night, although people still seem to remember it. _They are probably using apathy syndrome as an excuse to cover up the unexplained mutilation of that many people, _he realised_, otherwise they would only stir up panic. _After that, the days flew by.

Luckily, both Katou and Okumura were accepted for Gekkoukan. Over the summer break, Katou slowly began to worry less and less about what had happened on that night. Perhaps if he had remembered the other resident of that world, he may have been more cautious; he had been given a warning. This particular warning was given by a mysterious man, who shall remain anonymous for this chapter, but it should be pretty obvious who it is anyway. Can you say that you remember what happened in the dreams you've had when you wake up? Not one hundred percent of the time, that's for sure. When Katou returns to that realm, both what it actually is and the identity of that masked man will be revealed.

AUTHORS NOTE:

-_- I already tripped over my own plotlines, so the beginning of the first chapter has been rephrased.

Now, before anyone tries to say the Philemon was not in persona 3, start a new game and look for a blue butterfly in one of the opening scenes, a VERY SIMLILAR butterfly to the one in the beginning of the Aigis arc in FEZ. So those statements are rendered INVALID.

I am hoping to get to the action in the next chapter, but it depends how far I can get, as I really want to put in new characters, as the dynamic duo of Okumura and Katou is not enough. As soon as I go back to school in January however, expect releases to slow down by a bit, I have A LOAD of exams to get through QQ

(And no, Okumura will not have a persona, I think Katou trying to hide something like this from his best friend would be much better :D)

ANY suggestions/constructive criticisms are welcome; I need to improve my writing as much as I can…


	3. Gekkoukan high school

By the time summer break had finally ended, Katou had decided to try to forget about that night, so he can concentrate on his new school, but he doubted he could ever forget that demon. Twice as tall as your average person, deadly-looking claws and worst of all, the maniacal face, which made the creature look as if it was constantly laughing.

_What happened that night did not concern me, I bet the only people who died were members of NYX._

Walking with Okumura to the monorail station, they talked about the newest movies that they had seen. The station itself was full of Gekkoukan students, making the normal businessman you would expect on a train such as this look like a rarity. The two friends were forced to stand because of the sheer number of students.

"It might be a good idea to get the early train there" Katou commented.

"It 'might'? It would only take a couple more people and we would be squashed to death!"

Being by the door however did enable them to make a quick escape from the carriage, giving them motivation to walk quickly to prevent being swallowed by the wave of students.

Ten minutes later, they arrived at the entrance for their new high school. "It must be at least three times bigger than our old school!" Okumura joked with plenty of mock enthusiasm. "Hopefully we will be put in the same class."

"Even if we don't, we still go to the same school" Katou said reassuringly. "You should be more concerned about the rule that it is mandatory for all students to join a club, I couldn't find an occult club on the list. " which was accompanied by a complimentary nudge to the ribs. As you can probably guess by his appearance, Okumura's weak point is sport. It's not that he didn't try, he just couldn't play sports as well as others.

"Pfff, then I'll just make one, there's no rule stopping new students from forming clubs, is there?" with a matter-of-fact tone. "I'm sure I can get enough members, even if I don't ask for your help, though I was planning to"

Checking the table on the wall of the entrance hall, they found to their delight that they were both in the same class, 1-B. They made their way to the classroom, directed by the temporary signs to guide the new students and sat down in desks that were next to each other. While they were talking, Katou overheard a conversation between a group of their new classmates.

"Did you hear what happened during the graduation day this year? Apparently, one of the seniors died of apathy syndrome..."

_Could it be another monster? _Quickly rinsing to his feet, Katou interrupted. "Did anyone see the body?"

The girl was taken aback. "The body? Why would you care if they did?"

_(because it could have been a cover-up to prevent the public from knowing it was a monster)_

"well, most rumours are not true Y'know" realising how rude it was to randomly interrupt a stranger's conversation with no apparent reason, he quietly turned to go back to his seat to find a girl with jet-black shoulder length hair and piercing eyes staring right at him. _Great, it hasn't been five minutes since I entered the class and already I have people thinking that I'm weird._

The girl in question, who for future reference is called Misao, was not staring at him because of this however, but rather because he immediately asked about the body. Her mother had died under these circumstances after becoming a member of some strange cult but her family were never given the corpse for burial and no one seemed to know about the cult. Her father would never even talk about it; or more accurately pretended that he knew nothing, even though he himself was a member. She couldn't blame him for this though, as he was still recovering emotionally. They were the over-protective type of parents, who sent her to a private school in order to avoid the local state school, with its bad reputation. (_I should ask him if he knows anything about NYX) _she thought anxiously

"Well done, you already have an admirer" chortled Okumura

"Shut up" retorted Katou "haven't you noticed the police try to prevent the public from seeing the victims?"

"Well, I don't particularly want to see a corpse"

"I don't mean it like that, when that person down that alleyway by my house, they didn't ask for information from the local residents"

"Maybe they already knew he had apathy syndrome", Okumura shrugged. "Why are you so interested in something like this?"

Katou was about to reply with a quickly-thought up comeback when their new homeroom teacher entered.

"Welcome to Gekkoukan high school, I will be your homeroom teacher for the next few years…"

AUTHORS NOTE

On a combo here, managed to pull off three chapters in a day!

I didn't manage get any combat in yet, but this is a mystery genre fanfic as well, so bear with me, it may start of slow, but right now it can only get better XD

as most readers have probably guessed, the student who "died of apathy syndrome" was the MC of persona 3, seeing as IIRC, at the time nothing shows his cause of death.

I'll be trying from now on to write longer chapters however, I have a feeling it would have been better to combine the first two chapters together…

With any luck, the next release should be on the 26th, due to Christmas.

EDIT: just rectified a few mistakes and the like.


	4. Some kind of understanding

"Okay class, we will start by introducing ourselves…."

Katou look around the class, hoping to see anyone he recognised.

"Hey, I think we are the only people from Iwatodai middle school in this class" he whispered to Okumura.

"Well yeah, don't you remember how low the pass rates were?"

"Fair point, but the tests weren't _that_ hard, I'm sure at least one other person from our school is in a different class" both the friends were however ignorant of the fact that it was their turn to introduce themselves

"You two back there! Please let the rest of the class take part in your conversation!"

_(Already in trouble, I'm on a roll here)_

Katou noted that Okumura did not mention his love of the occult when he talked about himself, which, he supposed, was probably better. People for some reason are scared of such things, even though they don't belief that things such as magic or pagan gods exist. Though maybe because they are scared of the followers themselves. However, even though it was one of Okumura's hobbies, he did not believe in magic, merely interested in what the followers believe. For this reason he had intimate knowledge surrounding various deities.

It was already the end of homeroom by the time everyone had been introduced with their accompanying speech about themselves.

"Oh? A student is already absent on their first day..." their teacher wondered aloud, flicking through his register. "Anyway, first we need to go to the opening ceremony, please line up in alphabetical order" moaning at the fact that they were separated from their newly found friends, they resentfully did as they were told. Like most opening speeches, it was hardly listened to and the new students were more concerned with the fact that their headmaster's appearance was comparable to a frog, with glasses nearly as thick as Okumura's. however, what concerned Katou more than either of these things, was the fact that the he had to endure sitting next to the girl who gave him the piecing stare, whose name he now knew, Misao Tamaka. She on the other hand was trying to muster the courage to ask about the NYX, and whether it was connected to apathy syndrome. _(To react in such a way after hearing that, he must know something about it)_ she thought earnestly. _(But if he doesn't, and he wants to know why I asked him, I could just lie myself out)_

She whispered: "This might be a strange question, but did you know anyone who died of apathy syndrome?"

Intrigued, Katou replied with a cautious tone. "Depends what you mean by apathy syndrome, why?" _(Does this person know about the cover up?) _He thought eagerly.

That kind of answer was not something Misao was expecting. "What do _you_ mean by that?"

Katou's mind was racing _(should I tell her the truth? She probably won't believe it…)_ Then he had an idea. Taking a gamble, he asked:

"Well, do you know the meaning of the phrase 'day of salvation?'"

"What? You know about NYX?" of course, before her death Misao's mother was talking non-stop about the topic, saying the world was doomed. So her father for that matter, but he had been virtually mute since that day.

"Wait, you _remember _it? Did you see what happened on January 31st?"

"That was the day my mother passed away; she was a part of the cult, but I don't remember anything special, it was just any other day at the time" _(why did he ask if I remembered it?)_

Katou felt a sizable lump at the back of his throat. _(Did she sleep through that night without __hearing those screams? Or did she forget that part like everyone else? It's not like I can say 'sorry, but your mother was eaten by a monster')_

"Well, can I just ask you something then?"

"What?"

"Your father must have known about NYX right? When you ask him, does he say that he has no idea what you are talking about? Even if you were to keep asking, would he say the same thing instead of telling you never to talk about it again?"

This was certainly true for Misao.

"Why would that matter?"

"This might sound weird, but there's a good chance he has forgotten everything about NYX"

"Why would he forget something like that? He was obsessed with them" she replied irritably.

"I don't mean it like that, take Okumura as an example. He was more concerned about the cult then his school work but after that day he does not even know what NYX means"

"Are you trying to take me for an idiot?" she whispered in a condescending tone. "People do not randomly forget things they are obsessed with!"

_(And now she thinks I am trying to annoy her)_

"You don't need to believe me alright? But that's the only reason I can think of, seeing what happened that night..."

_Crap. Didn't mean to mention that._

"That night?"

"January the 31st, don't you think it's a bit odd for over a hundred people who seemed perfectly healthy to suddenly die?"

"Of apathy syndrome" she quickly added.

"Actually, they blamed it because they could not find any sign of the cause of death" Katou corrected. "But that was what the _media _said. Don't you think that's a bit weird?"

"Kind of, but don't the police know this? They would surely attempt to track down the cause _far_ better then you. If you think you know, please tell me what it is that's caused these deaths"

"What's the point if you wouldn't believe me?", stealing a lopsided smile from Okumura.

"None" she agreed hesitantly. "But that is because your lying"

"Well, it does add up" he said. "and it must be a pretty well made lie seeing as it was made in a few minutes. Fine, let's just agree on the basics. People have died and no one knows how;"

"mhm"

"Only we appear to remember NYX"

"Not agreeing with you on that one"

after the ceremony they were sent back to class for their first lesson, English, much to the disappointment of the class.

_(can I trust Katou?) _Misao was still wondering from the aftermath of their heated discussion earlier. _(it seemed like he knew about something when the others talked about that case of apathy syndrome, I should try getting a reaction out of dad by mentioning NYX in a conversation. )_

Lost in a trail of thought, she did not notice the girl sitting behind her, or more importantly, what was happening to her.

AUTHORS NOTE

Well, they at least they both have come to some sort of understanding, but I SERIOUSLY want to get to the action...

I should really make up a name for the homeroom teacher, just calling him "their homeroom teacher" will be troublesome later on, but right now I'm aiming for the team of persona users to be four, with perhaps a couple of support characters, all that's left now is WHO they actually are, looks like more name searching for me QQ

I'm hoping to introduce another character in the next chapter, along with a good old persona favourite...


	5. Awakening

"I'm surprised," Okumura whispered with a devilish grin. "You've already struck up conversation with a girl, trying to get a head start?"

"Does simply talking to a girl mean that I am interested in them?"

"Well, you do have a one track mind"

_(I'm starting to hate that smile)_

"Look, she just asked me a simple question and I answered her"

Okumura replied with his lopsided smile. "It looked quite a bit more _animate_ then a simple question" _(shit, he's getting suspicious, I better change the subject) _Katou thought anxiously_._

Nervously looking around for a scapegoat to get him out of this problem, he saw a girl seated behind Misao at the back of the classroom, who seemed to be muttering to herself. Her eyes were darting about, as if she had seen a ghost. Even from where he was sitting, Katou could tell she was sweating profusely.

"Hey, doesn't that girl look like she's talking to herself?" he said, successfully drawing the attention of his best friend.

"Your right… was that person here before the opening ceremony? I don't remember her being introduced."

"I didn't think someone could be so agi-"he never finished his sentence. Even if he did, no one would hear him.

One minute she was perfectly fine, but then she fell to the floor, screaming. Everyone turned round in their seat to stare at her. However, nobody ran over to her. Except Katou. _(Dammit, why is no one helping her)_. It took a while for her to recover.

"Are you alright?"

"c-can't you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"It's calling me…"

The teacher had finally started to act. "Katou, wasn't it? Go take Haruka to the nurse's office"

"Fine" replied Katou in a droning voice.

Beckoning her to the door, the two started walking down the deserted corridor.

"If I remember correctly it is next to the faculty office…"

Suddenly, Haruka had another panic attack. Grabbing on to Katou's sleeve she barely managed to speak. "H-help me… they are coming…" she wept. Suddenly, both of them felt as though they had been dragged downwards and all the lights went out. If there were any windows in the corridor, they would have noticed the sky turning _electric green. _But somehow, even though there was no source of light, he could still make out the stairs descending into the hall. For some reason the sounds from the classrooms had stopped.

"What happened?" he said in shock.

"Why are you still moving?" Haruka's eyes were wide with disbelief. "Why didn't you turn into a coffin?"

"What the hell are you talking about? People don't randomly turn into coffins"

"But then they will try to kill _you_ too"

The sound of squelching. Suddenly, an arm came out of the ground and grabbed her leg, forcing her down. It looked at first glance to be a puddle of black liquid, but it was alive, forming a humanoid shape, making it look like it was sinking into the ground. It was wearing what seemed to be a mask with "XVI" on its forehead. And it was not alone, looking at the floor, there were three others, clawing at them.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Katou was hysteric, managing to stun the _thing_ that was pinning down Haruka with a well-aimed kick to its mask and pulling her up, enabling them to get away. Running as fast as they can, they had nearly made it to the stairs when what can only be explained as an _extraordinary strong_ gust of wind knocked them both against the wall. Another mask covered in rags _passed through the wall,_ also with the "XVI" marking. Tipping its head as if it was thinking, it started to emit a sinister dark purple aura. _(This can't be good)_

"GET AWAY NOW!" he yelled at Haruka, who was now behind him, not noticing the glyph slowly appearing underneath him. She fled, managing to get out of the circle-shaped glyph before it lit up in a purple inferno. Now, for those who do not know, the spell that was cast by the ghost-like monster is commonly known as _mamudo._ Anything within that circle, which at this moment in time includes Katou, would under normal circumstances instantly have their soul forcibly removed from their body. However, just before this happened, Katou had blinked. While this would normally mean nothing, it proved to save his life. You see, while to any outside observer, they would see nothing out of the ordinary, a lot had happened to him while his eyes were shut.

He was suddenly in a familiar place, that stage that was mentioned at the beginning of this story to be exact. There was someone else there, that masked man from before. He was wearing the same spotless white suit with a waist-length ponytail; the right side of his mask was adorned with a complex butterfly design.

"We meet again" he said, as if they were both comrades in some elaborate war. "But you have probably forgotten what happened the first time we met, so just in case, my name is _Philemon"_

"Where am I?" Katou asked drowsily

"Do not worry, _your body_ is still at what you humans call school, but the location your soul will soon be another matter"

"w-what do you mean?"

"In the real world you are about to fall prey to a spell that will tear you soul away from your body."

"W-WHAT? CANT I DO ANYTHING?"

"For now, that is not a problem. Time in this realm is different to the time in the real world, and a second of your world has not passed since we started talking"

"I kind of understand what you are saying, did you bring me here?"

"You could say that" there were hints of a smile forming at the edges of the mask. "I'm sure you remembered what happened just after the first time we met?"

"Of course!" he replied, eager for answers. "What happened that night?"

"A group of people with a special power stopped the being known as _nyx_ from descending to the earth on top of a tower which used to stand where your body now is. However, this also meant that normal humans were active during the dark hour, and quite a few people were murdered by shadows.

This only provided Katou with more questions. "Wasn't NYX a cult?"

"I believe that was the work of a group known as strega, they probably wanted henchmen, but most people forget that they have experienced the dark hour forget about it afterwards, only those who have potential remember. If you are wondering why that includes the cult, which is because the members were told about nyx itself, having the same affect" the mysterious man replied. "But there is more important things to discuss, as I am afraid our time is limited. It wouldn't be good for you to know the truth then suddenly dying because we spent too long talking"

"Y-yeah"

"Then I will be blunt. I mentioned that a group of people had stopped nyx. They did this to put an end to the 'dark hour' which was claiming victims, which would then appear to others as unexplained deaths. However, while they managed to halt nyx, their work was not finished. Now the dark hour operates randomly because of this."

"Excuse me, er- what IS the dark hour?"

"It is the only time beings known as shadows appear, you have already encountered some. But the problem is that even though one of their numbers sacrificed himself to stop nyx, but the seal he made with his life-force is constantly under attack, so they cannot take care of this problem. You see, arcana is the means by all which is revealed, there being 22 categories. This group managed to destroy the embodiments of 12 of these, which ended in the favour of NYX. The destruction of the first twelve formed the harbinger of death, the thirteenth arcana that was never meant to be, but the last nine contain the _true power_ of death. Without the others to balance this, they become unstable, leading to the dark hour being warped. I will rely on you to destroy these and destroy the dark hour once and for all."

"You're relying on _**ME**__?_ If you can do this, I'm sure you can do much more than I ever can"

"If only that were possible, as I cannot ever interfere with the human world. I can instead, give power to humans"

Katou suddenly felt an odd warmth wash over him.

"w-what was that?"

"I just gave you the power of _persona;_ it is like what you humans would call a 'guardian angel'. Your inner self if you will. But the power I give you will make you different from other persona users. A power of near infinite possibilities. Currently you hold a persona that will save you from your impending doom."

"er-thanks?"

"You are welcome, but we must now part, sad such is fate. Hopefully we will meet again. But you must remember, you need to have the will to protect yourself and your friends to summon a persona, as you will not be alone after you awaken. Goodbye, Katou Reiho." After he had finished this last sentence, Philemon and the world seemed to instantly melt away, and Katou opened his eyes.

The purple flames died down, he could hear Haruka still crying, thinking that he had been burnt to death. His would-be murderer seemed to be in a state of shock that its target and survived such a spell unharmed.

However, Katou quickly realised Philemon had not told him _how_ to summon a 'persona'. _(I'll just have to find out by trial and error)_

"Y-you're alive!" Haruka yelled, her voice betraying her fear.

"It's not the time for that!" he had to concentrate here. Otherwise Philemon's assistance would have been for nothing. He was still trying various methods with his mind.

They were now surrounded by the shadows, with no form of defence. _(Why is this not working?)_ Katou was badly bruised hitting the wall after being thrown by the gust of wind. _(wait, didn't he give me a hint? "You need to have the will to protect yourself and your friends to summon a persona.")_ he imagined his friends from middle school, his family , and Haruka, who was crying with her uniform in tatters. He turned to face the shadows, gathering all his feelings. And screamed.

"**PERSONA!"**

it felt like his skull _exploded_**, **bringing him to his knees in pain. But something had appeared. Right in front of him, what looked like a man at waist-height wearing the type of clothes you would see in the medieval times, almost looking like a clown. Covering its face was a mask with a pointed tip at the nose with two red lines curved at the side. But the feature that really stood out was its wings. Black, with at least a metre wingspan. It spoke with a voice not unlike Katou's, albeit with a lower pitch. "Thou art I and I art thou. In the face of disaster lies the opportunity for renewal"

"DESTROY THEM!" Katou bellowed. There was no time to look in awe.

Obediently the being shot what can only be explained as a ball of energy at the offending shadow, breaking its mask instantly.

"What is that?" Haruka was ignorant of what had happened, to her it looked like Katou had gained this power out of the blue. But to be sure, he had changed.

"We can talk later, there's still some left"

Sure enough, the other shadows on the ground an approaching. He called once again to his new guardian, who once again shot a ball of energy at them, making the others flee.

"Finally, it's over" he said with a sigh of relief. He was still suffering a massive headache, which is probably why he did not notice that he was being watched.

"What was that?" even after being saved, Haruka did not stop crying.

"I guess you could call it a guardian angel" he replied, "but honestly, that's the first time I've seen him. But you seem to know something about what's happening? You said that I hadn't stopped moving."

"Well, open one of the classroom doors…"

Opening one, he peered into the nearest classroom. But no one was inside, instead of a pupil at every desk there was a coffin.

"What the hell?"

"Whenever this occurs, people normally turn into coffins." She said, trying to sound helpful "before I had to run away, but you simply killed them"

"Well, it wasn't really me" he replied, scratching his head. "That reminds me, what if that happens when you're in front of someone, to them do you just disappear?"

"Apparently not, if I go off somewhere else during this time anyone who saw me when I entered does not react, but they remember anything I said to them just before it. "

"Interesting…"

"I was being possessed. Only I could hear them talking to me"

"A voice?"

"You must have heard it, otherwise you wouldn't be here"

"We have some time before this ends, so you go and get your PE kit, say you were sick all over your normal uniform"

"WHAT?"

"They might misunderstand if we both go in and you're wearing a ripped uniform, I would never be able to live it down" he said depressingly

As Haruka ran down the stairs to do what she was told, a figure approached him at the other end of the hall. She must have been a third year, who seemed out of place in a uniform, with blond hair and a strange hair band.

"Most impressive, you summoned a persona without an evoker, though it would not be a good idea to rely on that method."

"An 'evoker'?"

"It is a device that helps people summon a persona, in most cases, they are essential"

He remembered what Philemon had said about a group stopping nyx.

"Are you one of the people who destroyed nyx?"

She didn't seem to react to this, but her voice seemed shocked.

"And how would you know that?"

"Philemon, according to him I am supposed to destroy the remainder of the 'arcana' while you protect the seal"

"I do not know of this 'Philemon' but if there is other embodiments of arcana, are you sure you can destroy them?"

"Well, it's not like you can do both, the last of the arcana are the reason why the dark hour is being warped apparently"

"If that is true, I will provide you with an evoker. Please wait until after school, I will meet you by the persimmon tree in the courtyard" the girl then turned on her heel and marched off. _(She was like a robot) _he thought, not knowing just how right he was.

Heading back to his classroom, he wondered what he had got himself into.

**AUTHORS NOTE**

**Seeing as I don't know *anything* about how Japanese names work, I will do it the English way to make sure I don't mess up, if people still want it the usual way, I will edit all the chapters accordingly. Of course, I would prefer it to be sooner than later so I don't have to go pouring over so many chapters T_T**

**Now this is where things start getting interesting…**

**Next chapter I am hoping to include Igor and member #3 learning of the dark hour!**

**PS: Katou's persona is koppa-tengu.**

**Edit: couple of grammar mistakes fixed**


	6. The velvet room

Waiting for the dark hour to end, he leaned against the wall beside the classroom of 1-B, thinking of what he had just been told.

_(So I have to kill nine shadows that resemble different arcana? What even IS arcana? Gah, I should have asked that third year…_

_On top of that I have to keep up with schoolwork, couldn't Philemon of picked someone who isn't in school? Plus Okumura would know if something is up, how the hell am I going to stop him from being suspicious)_

By the time Haruka had returned, Katou was thinking of an excuse to get Okumura to go home alone so that he could go and meet the third year to get an evoker.

"Sorry I took so long, but there are more of those monsters, I had to sneak around them," pausing to catch her breath

"More of them?"

"Every time this happens places become _infested _with them."

"My head is still aching from dealing with the first load of 'em"

"What? You mean your head aches every time you summon that _thing?_"

"I would say it's much worse than your average headache, but if I had an evoker I would be fine apparently"

"What is that?"

"All I know is it helps people to summon their personas"

"If I had one would it let me summon one?"

"Well, I can check by asking you a simple question"

"Which is?"

"Do you know what NYX is?"

"As in the cult?"

"Yes, if you were not able to summon a persona you would have forgotten it like everyone else"

"E-excuse me?"

An ominous _squelching_ could be heard.

"Look, that's not important, what is important is that we survive," Katou was still wondering why the girl had not just given him an evoker then and there, but he supposed she had to protect herself. The real reason behind this is because evoker of the girl in question is built in to her chassis, and even if it was removed it would prove useless to him, as he is an organic being. But, as he will soon be once again under attack by shadows, even if he was told at this moment of time, he would not care.

They could see a trio of them now, crawling up the stairs like zombies without legs. Raising his hand to his head in a feeble attempt to suppress the pain, Katou once again called out to his persona, who immediately cast a magic shot at the leading shadow. It didn't hit its mask directly however, hitting just beneath its mask, causing a crack to form. _(Crap) _he thought, as they got closer still.

"STOP THEM!" he yelled. His guardian took this literally and the air around suddenly became dark orange, like the purple aura the flying shadow emitted before it had cast the spell that nearly killed Katou. Suddenly, multiple lines seemed to impale one of the shadows, but it appeared to still be alive, clawing and them. However, the lines seemed to hold it in place, preventing it from getting any closer.

"Stop the other two!"

The harlequin responded with two more binding spells promptly at the leading shadow's companions leaving them vulnerable, flailing their arms helplessly.

"Finish them off!" he yelled joyfully, taunting his would-be assailants with various poses, even though he was still fearing for his life, much to the amazement of Haruka. But the crawling monsters could not escape the persona's shots of magic. With the last of the shadows annihilated, Katou headed back to his own classroom. Sure enough, just the other classroom he had checked, at every desk and also in front of the blackboard was a coffin.

"What would happen if we opened someone's coffin?" He whispered, not wanting to attract any more shadows with his shouting.

"I doubt you can do that, I tried the first time this happened to me" she whispered back.

"But even if you were successful, it would let the shadows attack them"

"Just wondering" experimentally he walked up to the coffin that used to be Okumura and knocked on it jokingly.

"I wouldn't do that, what would we do if he turned back to normal?"

"Good point"

"But it's just great, first day to high school and my uniform is already ripped, guess I'll have to sew it back together"

Suddenly, he could hear the voice a Philemon inside his head. "A friend of yours holds a strong resolve to stop innocent humans from being killed in their heart, but they have not awakened to their potential. You must be patient"

_(A friend? Does he mean Okumura?)_

The mysterious benefactor continued, "Look for the blue door that is side-by-side with law but is below audacity"

"w-what does that mean?" Katou replied hesitantly to the disembodied voice

"Think of it as a test, if you pass you will find some acquaintances of mine who will help you, I have already informed them of the task I have given you"

"I am not doing it for you. I am doing it for all the people who have died."

"Either way we both have a mutual objective, the destruction of the dark hour"

Not able to find a response for this, Katou hesitated.

"w-who are you talking to?" he had be oblivious to Haruka during this procession of words with his benefactor.

"Couldn't you hear him?"

"n-no"

"You don't have to worry about it then"

"FINE!" she replied indignantly. "But to me it seemed like you were talking to yourself"

Seeing as Philemon had decided to stop speaking in Katou's mind, the two students spent the remainder of the hour talking about themselves by the entrance of the classroom, so they could simply walk back in. Haruka had been in a neighbouring city but was drawn to Gekkoukan due its phenomenal pass rates, having to move into a dorm specifically made for the high school. Katou told her about being with Okumura with childhood, and how he had suddenly forgotten about NYX.

Suddenly, they felt the exact same feeling they felt when the dark hour had started, and noises could once again be heard from the classrooms. He was just about to open the door when he realised that to everyone else, as little as five minutes had passed since they had walked out. "Shit, we are going to have to wait a bit, otherwise they will think we just opened the door, waited for a few minutes and came back, I wouldn't really want to explain to the teachers that they had turned into coffins while we had to fend for our lives for an hour"

"Your right…"

They decided to hang around outside the classroom for ten minutes before coming in, hoping that no-one would walk out of any of the classrooms, but they were fortunate.

Walking back in, Haruka made up an excuse about how she had vomited on her normal uniform and so had to change into her PE kit.

"Are you sure you should still be attending class?"

"The nurse said that I should be fine now," hoping that the teacher was not bright enough to ask the nurse later.

"I-I see…"

The rest of the school day carried on without incident, bar a few sideways comments from Okumura about Haruka, who seemed to become Katou's self-proclaimed friend. These weren't meant as an insult however, but was an attempt at a compliment, which are normally short in supply.

When school had finally ended, he told Okumura to wait by the gates for him with an excuse about having to ask a teacher about something, so he was as far away from the courtyard as reasonably possible. He could already imagine the comments that would be made to tease him. "Nice hat-trick you got there", or maybe even "are you thinking of being a career in pimping?"

Stepping to the courtyard, he could see the girl. She was holding what appeared to be a brief case.

_(Is that how big an evoker is?)_

Greeting her, she replied with actions, lifting up the grey case. He took it nervously. "Margret has informed me of your situation. Inside are four evokers"

_(Why four?) _he was going to ask, but a more important question struck him

"Who is Margret?"

"You will soon meet her"

"I-I see"

Before he could ask any more questions, the third year left silently. _(Does everyone who answers my questions have to be so abrupt?)_

Meeting with Okumura, he was questioned about the contents of the case. Katou simply replied that it was a few pass papers he was studying from which he asked the teacher for. They decided to go to the arcade in Paulownia mall. It was their normal hang-out point after school, so they knew the place like the back of their hands. Well, Katou thought he did until he saw the bright blue door down an alleyway. "How long has that blue door been there for? I don't remember seeing it last time we were here," pointing out the door to Okumura.

"What door? All I see is an alleyway"

_(Didn't that clue that Philemon give me mention a blue door? "Look for the blue door that is side-by-side with law but is below audacity" the alley next to a police station and there is a karaoke box on the balcony above it)_

"go to the arcade without me, I'll catch up"

"you seem to be raking a lot of detours lately"

"it's not my fault, I found a wallet that needs to be handed in" he said, quickly making up a lie.

"Fine, fine" with that same smile, Okumura went ahead, leaving Katou alone next to the alleyway

As casually as he could, he walked towards the door and opened it as if it was the front door of his house. Inside the ceiling, walls and even the floor were the same soft velvet colour of the door. There were a number of doors and a small table that was accompanied by two armchairs. One of them was already taken by what seemed to be an old man with an extraordinarily long nose, with a woman who was probably his assistant standing next to him.

"Welcome to the velvet room, Katou Reiho. I am igor and this is my assistant Margret" said the old man.

_(so that's what that girl meant)_

"H-How do you know my name"

"Well, our master informed me, I believe you have already met him twice"

"Philemon?"

"Indeed, you are very lucky, it is very rare for him to choose to appear to normal humans. But it seems he chose right, as you have passed the test."

"That was just luck"

"Either way, you still protected a fellow human with your newly acquired persona, that in it could be defined as a test, but enough of that. This place, the velvet room, is how you acquire new personas. Only those who are compatible with all arcana can enter. In order to acquire new personas however, you must acquire spellcards with you will find occasionally after defeating shadows"

Before Katou could respond, the woman then started to speak. "you probably want to know more about you current persona"

"A-Alright…"

"It is known as koppa-tengu of the hanged man arcana and it is capable of using a magic shot and a binding spell known as shibaboo. It is imperative that you choose what you would like your persona to do in future. For example, what would happen if it also had the spell agi and you told it to 'destroy them'? Absolutely nothing. Another thing that is worth noting is that spells tend to require the upmost concentration. I am surprised that you shibaboo held against those shadows"

Margret continued this lecture for a while, informing Katou of the various elemental spells.

When she had finally finished, Katou thanked them both and ran for the arcade, hoping that Okumura was still there. "Sorry I took so long" he said, out of breath.

"What do you mean? We only saw each other a minute ago?"

Cursing under his breath, he realised that the door to the velvet room must have be a portal to the same world as that stage where he had met Philemon.

They stayed at the arcade for a while then enviably headed home. Jumping onto his bed, he opened the case to take a peek inside. The last thing he was expecting was guns. Four of them, all the same shining sliver colour. _(SERIOUSLY? What if I get caught with one of these?)_ Fully opening the case, he saw that it also came with a hoister. _(I'll just have to wear it under my school uniform) _experimentally trying it on, he felt like a serial killer. _(At least I will have no problem fighting shadows, but how the hell am I going to prove to Haruka that these aren't real? AND these things didn't come with any ammo)_

Hiding the case underneath his bed and covering it with various discarded clothing around his room, he collapsed onto his bed. The encounter with the shadows had seemed to tire him greatly. Still suffering from the headache from summoning Koppa-Tengu, he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

**AUTHORS NOTE**

**I don't care about whether persona three has certain skills or not, they are staying, but later on I will focus on P3 Exclusive spells.**

**I decided to wait a chapter for Misao to awaken into a persona user because I do not want to introduce the characters all at once and also because I am still deciding on her persona. (Though I am thinking empress arcana for her, so it is probably going to be the weakest one of the group)**


End file.
